scholarly journals CheckMyMetal: a macromolecular metal-binding validation tool

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heping Zheng ◽  
David R. Cooper ◽  
Przemyslaw J. Porebski ◽  
Ivan G. Shabalin ◽  
Katarzyna B. Handing ◽  
...  

Metals are essential in many biological processes, and metal ions are modeled in roughly 40% of the macromolecular structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). However, a significant fraction of these structures contain poorly modeled metal-binding sites.CheckMyMetal(CMM) is an easy-to-use metal-binding site validation server for macromolecules that is freely available at http://csgid.org/csgid/metal_sites. TheCMMserver can detect incorrect metal assignments as well as geometrical and other irregularities in the metal-binding sites. Guidelines for metal-site modeling and validation in macromolecules are illustrated by several practical examples grouped by the type of metal. These examples showCMMusers (and crystallographers in general) problems they may encounter during the modeling of a specific metal ion.

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C1483-C1483
Author(s):  
Heping Zheng ◽  
Mahendra Chordia ◽  
David Cooper ◽  
Ivan Shabalin ◽  
Maksymilian Chruszcz ◽  
...  

Metals play vital roles in both the mechanism and architecture of biological macromolecules, and are the most frequently encountered ligands (i.e. non-solvent heterogeneous chemical atoms) in the determination of macromolecular crystal structures. However, metal coordinating environments in protein structures are not always easy to check in routine validation procedures, resulting in an abundance of misidentified and/or suboptimally modeled metal ions in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). We present a solution to identify these problems in three distinct yet related aspects: (1) coordination chemistry; (2) agreement of experimental B-factors and occupancy; and (3) the composition and motif of the metal binding environment. Due to additional strain introduced by macromolecular backbones, the patterns of coordination of metal binding sites in metal-containing macromolecules are more complex and diverse than those found in inorganic or organometallic chemistry. These complications make a comprehensive library of "permitted" coordination chemistry in protein structures less feasible, and the usage of global parameters such as the bond valence method more practical, in the determination and validation of metal binding environments. Although they are relatively infrequent, there are also cases where the experimental B-factor or occupancy of a metal ion suggests careful examination. We have developed a web-based tool called CheckMyMetal [1](http://csgid.org/csgid/metal_sites/) for the quick validation of metal binding sites. Moreover, the acquired knowledge of the composition and spatial arrangement (motif) of the coordinating atoms around the metal ion may also help in the modeling of metal binding sites in macromolecular structures. All of the studies described herein were performed using the NEIGHBORHOOD SQL database [2], which connects information about all modeled non-solvent heterogeneous chemical motifs in PDB structure by vectors describing all contacts to neighboring residues and atoms. NEIGHBORHOOD has broad applications for the validation and data mining of ligand binding environments in the PDB.


1994 ◽  
Vol 300 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Spencer ◽  
P M Jordan

Two distinct metal-binding sites, termed alpha and beta, have been characterized in 5-aminolaevulinic acid dehydratase from Escherichia coli. The alpha-site binds a Zn2+ ion that is essential for catalytic activity. This site can also utilize other metal ions able to function as a Lewis acid in the reaction mechanism, such as Mg2+ or Co2+. The beta-site is exclusively a transition-metal-ion-binding site thought to be involved in protein conformation, although a metal bound at this site only appears to be essential for activity if Mg2+ is to be bound at the alpha-site. The alpha- and beta-sites may be distinguished from one another by their different abilities to bind divalent-metal ions at different pH values. The occupancy of the beta-site with Zn2+ results in a decrease of protein fluorescence at pH 6. Occupancy of the alpha- and beta-sites with Co2+ results in u.v.-visible spectral changes. Spectroscopic studies with Co2+ have tentatively identified three cysteine residues at the beta-site and one at the alpha-site. Reaction with N-ethyl[14C]maleimide preferentially labels cysteine-130 at the alpha-site when Co2+ occupies the beta-site.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunseli Bayram Akcapinar ◽  
Osman Ugur Sezerman

Metal ions play pivotal roles in protein structure, function and stability. The functional and structural diversity of proteins in nature expanded with the incorporation of metal ions or clusters in proteins. Approximately one-third of these proteins in the databases contain metal ions. Many biological and chemical processes in nature involve metal ion-binding proteins, aka metalloproteins. Many cellular reactions that underpin life require metalloproteins. Most of the remarkable, complex chemical transformations are catalysed by metalloenzymes. Realization of the importance of metal-binding sites in a variety of cellular events led to the advancement of various computational methods for their prediction and characterization. Furthermore, as structural and functional knowledgebase about metalloproteins is expanding with advances in computational and experimental fields, the focus of the research is now shifting towards de novo design and redesign of metalloproteins to extend nature’s own diversity beyond its limits. In this review, we will focus on the computational toolbox for prediction of metal ion-binding sites, de novo metalloprotein design and redesign. We will also give examples of tailor-made artificial metalloproteins designed with the computational toolbox.


1992 ◽  
Vol 287 (2) ◽  
pp. 533-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Kar ◽  
P Z De Croos ◽  
S J Roman ◽  
P Matsumura ◽  
M E Johnson

1H- and 31P-n.m.r. have been used to study the interaction of the bacterial chemotaxis protein, CheY, with ATP and a variety of other phosphates in the presence and absence of bivalent metal ions. In the metal-bound conformation, CheY will bind nucleotide phosphates and phosphates in general, while in the metal-free conformation CheY loses its affinity for phosphates. In the presence of low concentrations of nitroxide-spin-labelled ATP (SL-ATP), specific proton resonances of metal-bound CheY are suppressed, indicating that ATP binds to a specific site on this metal-bound form of the protein. These studies also show that the same resonances are affected by the binding of SL-ATP and Mn2+, indicating that the phosphate- and metal-binding sites are close to each other and to Asp-57 (the site of phosphorylation in CheY). 1H- and 31P-n.m.r. studies using ATP, GTP, TTP, UTP, ADP, AMP and inorganic phosphates show that the binding is not specific for adenine, and does not involve the base directly, but is mediated primarily by the phosphate groups. Experiments with a phosphorylation mutant (Asp-13-->Asn) suggest that the observed phosphate binding and activation of CheY by phosphorylation may be related. Our results indicate that the conformational change and charge interactions brought about by the binding of a metal ion at the active site are required for CheY to interact with a phosphate. These studies also demonstrate the utility of spin-label-induced relaxation in conjunction with two-dimensional-n.m.r. measurements for exploring ligand-binding sites.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (39) ◽  
pp. 13976-13984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Baldrighi ◽  
Giulia Locatelli ◽  
John Desper ◽  
Christer B. Aakeröy ◽  
Silvia Giordani

1973 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 749-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. Charlwood

Equilibrium-dialysis experiments showed that Tris or citrate in the solution prevented copper from occupying completely the specific metal-binding sites on human transferrin. Differential measurements of sedimentation velocity under conditions where two atoms of copper per molecule of protein were bound showed an increase in s020,w, relative to that of the apoprotein, practically the same as that produced by two atoms of iron. Gel-filtration experiments made under the same conditions to investigate the effect of copper binding on the Stokes radius of the protein showed merely that it lost most of the metal as it passed down the column.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (17) ◽  
pp. 5221
Author(s):  
Salvatore La Gatta ◽  
Linda Leone ◽  
Ornella Maglio ◽  
Maria De Fenza ◽  
Flavia Nastri ◽  
...  

Understanding the structural determinants for metal ion coordination in metalloproteins is a fundamental issue for designing metal binding sites with predetermined geometry and activity. In order to achieve this, we report in this paper the design, synthesis and metal binding properties of METP3, a homodimer made up of a small peptide, which self assembles in the presence of tetrahedrally coordinating metal ions. METP3 was obtained through a redesign approach, starting from the previously developed METP molecule. The undecapeptide sequence of METP, which dimerizes to house a Cys4 tetrahedral binding site, was redesigned in order to accommodate a Cys2His2 site. The binding properties of METP3 were determined toward different metal ions. Successful assembly of METP3 with Co(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II), in the expected 2:1 stoichiometry and tetrahedral geometry was proven by UV-visible spectroscopy. CD measurements on both the free and metal-bound forms revealed that the metal coordination drives the peptide chain to fold into a turned conformation. Finally, NMR data of the Zn(II)-METP3 complex, together with a retrostructural analysis of the Cys-X-X-His motif in metalloproteins, allowed us to define the model structure. All the results establish the suitability of the short METP sequence for accommodating tetrahedral metal binding sites, regardless of the first coordination ligands.


1988 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald W. Gutzman ◽  
Cooper H. Langford

Abstract The adsorption of copper(II) on a hydrous oxide colloid of iron formed by base hydrolysis in the presence of the adsorbate metal has been studied in two ways. Filtration-AAS of equilibrated solutions yielded data which fit well to a single variant adsorption isotherm even at high adsorbate metal concentration thus precluding the need for multivariant fitting. These same colloidal species were kinetically analyzed by reaction of copper with the chromophore reagent EHTTT (a = 13700 Mࢤ1 cmࢤ1 at 434 nm) which revealed the presence of three components, other than the very labile “free” species. Kinetic differentiation of thermodynamically similar sites may result from diffusion control of metal ion release.


1988 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. K. L. Wong ◽  
G. L. Richmond

The metal ion binding properties of the perfluorosulfonate membrane Nafion® have been investigated in this study. The experiments involve laser-induced fluorescence measurements of europium (III) ions which are bound to the membrane. By the exploitation of the hypersensitivity of the D → F transitions of europium (III) to the ligand binding environment, the properties of the metal binding sites have been analyzed as a function of various experimental parameters. The spectra and fluorescence lifetime measurements provide evidence for distinct metal binding sites within the polymer, each of which is sensitive to the conditions of the membrane preparation.


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